Irresistible force paradox
by neverland300690
Summary: When they first met, the time and place were all wrong. He was on a job – any kind of distraction could have cost him his life... but she turned out to be simply unavoidable, despite his best intentions, and theirs became that kind of a story, where things got just so completely out of control… Ever since they met, that was the way he always felt around her: undone. Tuck/Katie
1. Chapter 1

_**AN**__: Ok, so I know that in the movie Tuck is supposed to be 30, but I had to change that a little bit - that is, make him about 6 years older - to fit my story (this is fiction after all, I figured I could do what i wanted) So in this story he is 27 and it's around that age that he meets Kate - his future wife. _  
_When I start writing about the events described in the movie, he is going to be around 35-36._  
_Sorry for the math lesson._  
_I do hope you enjoy this._

oOoOoOo

_The **Irresistible force paradox, **also formulated as "_What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object_?"  
The immovable object and the irresistible force are both implicitly assumed to be indestructible, or else the question would have a trivial resolution.  
Furthermore, it is assumed that they are two separate entities, since an irresistible force is implicitly an immovable object, and vice versa._

oOoOo

**1.**

FDR didn't think he'd ever seen his boss so freaking _pissed_. A vein was pumping in her forehead, her eyes were so narrowed from anger that they had practically turned to slits, her movements were snappy, her voice like the noise of nails scratching a blackboard and boy was he glad that she did not have a weapon on her anymore or he was sure that both he and Tuck would have to duck for cover or find themselves riddled with bullets.

"Un-_fucking_-believable. Your orders were to _follow_ him, to gather intel that would lead us to the man _financing_ the terrorist cell… and what do _you_ do?" Her voice kept getting louder and louder and Tuck and FDR kept getting smaller and smaller on their chairs.

"You chaise him down a packed street, blow up half a block and break the one international law that is never, _never_ to be broken!"

"Well, on our defense…"

Liz slapped the file down on her desk and stared hard into FDR's face, practically daring him to go on talking and give her a reason to stab him, as if there weren't enough already. FDR trailed off and looked down.

"You chased him inside an _embassy_! Shot him down in front of _cameras_! How in god's name could you be so _stupid_?"

"We shot the cameras." FDR murmured.

"Next time, you shoot yourselves first!" And by now she was yelling and so angry that her blush was showing despite her dark skin. Tuck winced and FDR rubbed his temples.

"He would have made that bomb detonate in the middle of the market. It _had_ to be done." Tuck said, speaking for the first time, looking at his boss without regret of apologizing in his eyes.

Liz stared at him so hard and with such burning anger that he regretted talking at all for a moment.

"You had a _mission_, you had _orders_. Because you two got sidetracked and forgot that, many more people will die."

The silence that perpetrated after those words was heavy and full of tension. Liz rubbed the bridge of her nose, shaking her head as if she already regretting. These two were the brightest agents she had had for almost a generation. They were talented, resourceful, strong, fast, sharp, smart… but so fucking young, god dam it. They were not new to taking orders, they both had military backgrounds of some kind, but they also had attitude problems and issues with authority.

And now, it turns out they also had a fucking conscience.

"Get the hell out of my office." She said finally, the tiredness showing in her voice. "You two are to be placed on desk duty until I see fit to bother reconsidering."

And she reconsidered.

For four months.

And when she finally did come to them with something… it was a fucking surveillance job. They were both overqualified for it, so it was pretty obvious that this was punishment.

But on the upside, their target was suspected of being tied to the terrorist cell they had been after in Kandahar. She was either a contact, or a gun for hire… or a student that had a very busy like at NYU. They had nothing on her except for the dubious leads that had led them to her, which in itself was fishy enough. Nobody that pops up on their nets is that clean.

So they set up shop.

They found the target's current residence and found out that the girl (5'5, blonde hair cut in a bob, medium build, fit enough to throw a decent punch) was pretending to be an MIT student, living with three other girls whose background checked out. They found a vacant place right across the street from hers without needing to 'vacate' it themselves by sending the owner into a long vacation – a lucky coincidence.

Until they met the owner of the apartment they were supposed to live in.

In the morning, when they came in like two ordinary young men moving into a new place, a girl was there to greet them. Tuck would have thought it usual, if it wasn't for the '_oh, fuck_!' that FDR mumbled by his side.

"What?" Tuck asked directly, hand already reaching for the concealed piece on his side.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Franklin continued, as he stepped out of the car, putting on a flawlessly happy face. When Tuck saw the recognition flood the face the girl by the building's entrance, he understood the whole fuss and felt the need to curse as well.

This girl knew FDR.

_Fuck_ was an understatement.

With one glance, Tuck sized the girl up. She was small, maybe 5'3-5'4, built lean though doubtlessly a female. No relevant muscle mass, too thin to be any good in a fight, dark brown hair that was gathered in a high ponytail, and black rimmed glasses that almost hid her dark eyes. Baggy black sweatpants, fitting black T-shirt, nowhere to hide a weapon.

She was also smart. Tuck could see the way she had taken them in, sized them up as soon as both he and Frank stepped out of the car. This was not Franklin's usual type of female.

And how the _bloody hell_ did Frank know a girl that lived on the other side of the _fucking_ country? Had he managed to shag his way through America this fast?

"Katie, how had you been?" Franklin called with open arms, as if to greet her friendlily. Tuck put on his nicest smile, letting his friend do the introducing, before he wacked him around the head when they were alone.

"_Franklin_?" She frowned in disbelief. FDR walked straight to her, as if he was going to hug her, but she put up one hand. "I'm not going to hug you Frank." The girl deadpanned, without so much as blinking differently.

Frank snorted. "Sharp as ever, huh Katie."

"What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get into my new apartment." Franklin countered as brightly as she was serious. "This here is my friend Tuck Williams. We're moving for a few weeks, for a job."

"Pleasure to meet you." Tuck said with a smile. The girl nodded in his direction.

"Katerina Anderson, you can call me Kate. Come on this way." She said, maintaining a cool appearance but not failing to be polite. Then turned around and led them through the lobby of the building, a second pair of stairs and into an elevator. They took their suitcases and a couple of boxes with them – there were hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment in there.

In the elevator, the girl was silent as a shadow, but Franklin was itching to tease her.

"How long have you been living here?" Frank asked casually.

"About five years now." She replied. Tuck had a feeling that she didn't really feel like talking to them, but Frank kept pushing it, doing so with such familiarity that told Tuck his friend had known this Katie a long time.

"Did you move to go to college or what?"

"College." She answered. Her tone was neutral and her answers clipped, but she was not being rude, at least it did not appear so. Tuck got the feeling that while she was not against making smalltalk, she was going to be precise and laconic in her answers nonetheless.

"NYU?"

"MIT."

"You still doing that or did you graduate already?"

"Graduated a few years ago."

"MIT huh? That's impressive. What did you major on? No wait, lemme guess, computer stuff."

"You always did manage to put details into perspective Franklin." Kate deadpanned, but she was smiling nonetheless.

"So what do you do now?"

"None of your biz, Unibrow."

Tuck managed to cover up his laugh as a cough, but did so poorly, because Frank shot him a glare. But he just hadn't been able to help it. _Unibrow_, that was too awesome.

Maybe meeting this girl wasn't so bad.

The girl took them to the seventh floor into and opened the door for them, showing them in into a small but very clean and well preserved apartment. There were four windows facing east – and directly in front of their target's apartment.

"Alright then boys, this is it. There are two other rooms and a bathroom, I'll spear you the tour. It's sound surrounded, so you can yell as much as you like, but preferably not after eleven, there are kids living upstairs."

"It's perfect thank you." Tuck said, speaking for the first time since he had see her. She looked at him, her eyes staying on his a couple of seconds, but not enough to be obvious about it.

"Here's the rent for this month." FDR said handing her an envelope. Kate looked at it and then looked back up to FDR before she took it, fixing him with a hard stare.

"One more thing, before I take the money. This is my apartment, so no matter how much rent you pay that does not give you the right to do any kind of irreparable damage in here. I want this place back in the same condition I see it now. If you fuck up in any way shape or form, you pay for it yourself. If you don't, I'm coming after you with a 7 iron golf club. Is anything in any way unclear?"

Tuck looked over at FDR – who had the decency to wince - and wanted to punch his lights out. It was debatable whether this girl came up to his shoulder, but she was staring at them with the seriousness of killer over those black-rimmed glasses.

"Everything's crystal clear Katie. We're stand up guys, you can trust us."

The girl have him a look, arching one eyebrow at Frank like she knew all about the kind of stand up guy he was and Franklin actually squirmed under her stare so much that Tuck was certain they had some kind of history. She seemed to know him well, and was aware of it enough to make someone like FDR uncomfortable.

This was _not_ good…

"Come on, we won't set the place on fire, I promise. And if we break anything, you can feel free to shoot him." FDR added with his most charming smile on, pointing at Tuck. Katie didn't even crack a smile.

"No, I think I'm destined to shoot _you_. Have a nice day gents."

She left, closing the door after herself.

Tuck looked at her go, and then turned to his friend.

"Oh, she's really cooperative."

FDR rolled his eyes. "Hey, this apartment is empty, its 5 seconds away from our surveillance target and it's got heating. What more do you want?"

Tuck turned serious all at once. "It's not good that she knows you."

"No it's not." FDR confirmed.

"How long have you known her?"

Franking cracked a smile as he unloaded their equipment. "I went to the same elementary school with her, and then high school as well."

Tuck frowned. "She looks kinda young to be our age." Their age meaning 27 years old. That girl looked like a freshmen in college.

"That's because she'd not. She must be what, 22 - 23 maybe. I'm not sure. She was the weird kid that took all the advanced classes, got her GED at fifteen or something... I didn't know she'd be here." Frank then added sounding a little sorry that he hadn't taken the time to do a deeper search of the area.

"Didn't you recognize her name in the field check you did before we moved here?" Tuck asked as he set up the equipment in one of the rooms.

"No, because her name wasn't in the records. Which doesn't surprise me. She's using her mother's maiden surname."

There was a strange note in his voice when Tuck said that, but FDR didn't elaborate and Tuck didn't ask. He was too busy putting together the devices and computers and setting up the connection with Drew – their coordinator in the headquarters.

"This is Tuck reporting. Drew, you there mate?"

"Hey Tuck. We got a visual on the target, she's walking home right now."

"Thanks." Tuck cut the connection and turned to FDR. "You got that?"

His friend signed him the 'ok' as he set up the telescope and heat detectors. They were in for some long nights…


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

It was five o'clock in the morning and the sun was nowhere near up yet. Every morning she took the same route, trying to keep her pace steady and her breathing regulated. The hoodie almost covered her up entirely and it was already getting soaked. The music in her headphones was blasting away, the rhythm helping her keep a steady pace.

She was about to turn a corner when another runner almost came out of nowhere and she was so startled that she almost fell down trying to avoid colliding with him. The yelp that escaped was involuntary.

"Hey there, good morning."

She took off her headphones, trying not to breathe too loudly. "Hey. Tuck right? Frank's friend that moved in a week ago?"

He smiled lopsidedly… and the first thought that popped into her head was '_Oh, wow!'_

"That's me. Sorry about that, I didn't see you from the corner."

_You're a long way from England, Tuck…_

But she didn't say that out loud.

"It's ok, I didn't either." She said, hating that she sounded so breathless, but really, she had been running so it was no big deal. There were a few moments of awkward silence and Kate decided to let it all go with a casual smile. To her surprise, he responded to that with a smile of his own.

"Ok then… Have a nice day." And with that, she put her headphones back on and left him.

Tuck smiled, watched her go for a couple of seconds. Without her glasses she looked better: her amber eyes were even more amazing up close, surrounded by thick black lashes.

They met like that every morning for a week, and it became so usual that they started running the same track for a while. She noticed that he slowed down a little so that she could keep up with him. They ran in silence and then separated again after a few hundreds of meters. Tuck liked the silent company of her. She seemed to be a very private person, with a wonderful smile and easy manner… who carried a switchblade on her pocket everywhere she went apparently, even when she went out for a run in the morning. There was no apparent reason for her to do that: she lived in a quiet neighborhood, she had a quiet life and reasonable work hours.

What was she afraid of?

Tuck was sure he didn't know. Katerina Anderson didn't seem like a victim, nor did she seem like someone who had a penchant for violence. That blade on her was there for self defense; from what did she feel like she needed protection? Tuck didn't know that either and to be honest, he didn't even want to be this curious. The last thing he needed was a distraction. He and FDR could not afford that - another fuckup like Kandahar and Liz would bury them under paperwork for the rest of their lives.

On the other hand, their target was - to plainly put it - _boring_.

They were going nowhere even with their stationing so close to her, because the woman was not _doing anything_. They were wasting time and money on her. Grace Downs – because that was the target's current name - went to university, stayed there for six to seven hours a day, came home, studied, went out with her friends, went dancing, to the gym. Boring, boring, _boring_…

And yet she had firewalls and computer protection programs that would put Pentagon to shame. Why did she need those? Why couldn't they find any record of her before she popped into existence a year ago? How did she communicate with her bosses? Where were the other cells?

Tuck and FDR knew they need to get in her apartment and plant some bugs, but the problem was that it was _never_ empty. One of those girls was always there at one time or another.

So FDR had decided to do this the old fashioned way: by seducing.

He had taken all three girls out tonight. Franklin had somehow convinced them all to go out dancing, which left Tuck free to bug her apartment and search her computer. He had, and had found nothing, and ended up setting up with a couple of beers on the couch, waiting for the delivery pizza and Franklin to come back with some kind of useful information or he would surely die of the disuse.

He was about to call open up the first bottle when he heard a thump from the apartment upstairs. His senses fired up instinctively, he tensed, listening intently for anything that might indicate something was not right.

There were some other thumbs and noises of stuff falling down on the floor. Tuck hadn't noticed but his had had already taken out his gun and was holding it against his thigh with the ease of someone used to consider that piece of metal as an extension of himself.

The knock on the window startled him, but thankfully, he had the forethought to look before pointing his gun in the direction of the noise (this was not his first time as a undercover civilian). Which was good because had he pointed a loaded glock at Katerina's face, then their cover would have been pissed down the drain.

Or she would have suspected him to be some kind of criminal.

"Kate?"

The shock in his voice was obvious, as she crouched at the fire-escape, trying to get in. He shoved the gun under the sofa's and rushed to open the window for her, doing a fast check of her person in two seconds. She seemed rattled, her hair in messy waves all about her, but otherwise unharmed. The thumping in her apartment continued and now he thought someone was actually trashing it.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he helped her step in.

"Barging in." Kate said, as if pointing out the obvious was in any way funny at the moment. Then she looked at him and at the honest worry in his eyes and she felt her breath leave her.

"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have but…" her eyes went up to the ceiling and then back in his eyes and she looked and sounded as sorry as she said she was and maybe even a little frightened. For a moment Tuck imagined hitting himself on the back of the head, because even though she was trying very hard to keep herself together, she was obviously out of her wits, and there he was, sounding like he was giving her an interrogation.

"That's not what I meant. The fire escape is dangerous, this is the eighth floor!"

She gave a nervous laugh as she adjusted her gray sweater that had gone askew, slipping off her shoulder. For the first time Tuck noticed what she was wearing: a dark tank top underneath looked like sleepwear, she was in baggy black sweatpants and… fluffy red socks?

Kate noticed how his eyes hardened and his tone changed when he spoke again.

"What's going on in your apartment?" He asked carefully.

She took a couple of deep breaths and looked around as if she was looking for an escape. But there was none because she had gotten herself into this situation – into her apartment, that he was now inhabiting, of all places. She'd hoped that FDR would be here, but she was stuck with British Tuck here, alone, looking at her as if he expected an explanation.

And he should. She'd just burst into his house, through the _window_ no less. Kate fidgeted a little with her sleeve unconsciously.

Damn it...

"That's my ex. He can't seem to accept that it's over so I just… made a break for it." She said vaguely, and instantly regretted it when she saw how his posture went completely rigid, his eyes going to blank that for a moment Kate was scared all over again.

"He's up there right now, trashing your apartment?"

His voice was so quiet that Kate was afraid to answer and for a moment she felt that she had made a mistake in coming here, that this guy was even more dangerous than the one she had escaped from just now.

"I don't think he'd go that far. We were just arguing and I had had enough. He wouldn't leave so I did." She explained with the kind of finality that begged for no more questions. She hated explaining herself, she hadn't had to give account for her actions since she'd been fourteen - but in this case, it seemed to be due.

Kate watched Tuck nod and look away, then out of nowhere, he cracked a smile so easy and frankly charming, that she was thrown back. All the hostility from before had evaporated like it had never been there in the first place.

"So… You wanna hide out in here for a while? After all, this is your apartment!" he said with a shrug. Kate couldn't help but smile.

"Not right now it isn't, but that would be nice… thank you."

"No problem. Make yourself a home, please. I was about to order some pizza, you want some?" he asked casually as he picked up the phone. Kate's eyes trailed over the tattoos in his upper arms. He was wearing a dark T-shirt, the short sleeves not even close to covering his inking.

That was so strange, the initial duality of him. Tuck had the smile of a good guy, the politeness that you read about in books and never find in men in real life, and yet he seemed to have the kind of history that would suit a biker. She had known plenty of those bad boys confetti… but Tuck didn't really seem that kind of guy, even though he could sure look it.

So undecipherable…

It was curiously fascinating not to be able to figure him out as easily as she did with everyone else.

"Call Tommy's. He's right around the corner and makes the best Pizza in five block radius." She said casually and gave him the place's number.

"Pepperoni and mushrooms for me." She added as an afterthought.

Tuck watched as she plumped herself on the couch and snagged a beer with an ease that made him smile. But when he turned his back, the expression melted right off his face. He was inching to go up there and give that '_boyfriend'_ a nice little lesson in manners, but he could not, by _any_ means, leave Kate alone in their apartment: There was a gun under the very sofa she was sitting cross legged on, enough arsenal in under his (and DFR's) bed to level a small house, and so much spying equipment in the room next door that they could be in a Jason Borne movie.

"Dare I ask where Frank is at this ungodly hour?"

Tuck smirked. He could hear the mock in her tone, as if she knew _exactly_ where Frank was.

"How much are you prepared to hear?" Tuck teased and then chuckled at the face she made. He was about to ask how long she'd known Frank for when a heavy knock made the door of the apartment shake. He didn't miss the way her eyes snapped to the door or how her smile melted right off her face.

"Kate, I know you're in there, open up!" the voice from outside the door sounded as angry as it was desperate.

Tuck looked over. Kate seemed tense, but not afraid. More like angry. He made to get up and deal with the hindrance, but she stopped him.

"Please don't. I've been over this with him once, I don't wanna do it again. I don't even want to look at him."

"I can make him leave." His eyes were fixed on hers and there it was again, that deathly quiet in his tone that gave her pause. If this man had not been a friend of Franklin's she would have gotten the hell outa there. Kate had a sense for these things and she trusted her instinct implicitly. When her gut told he that a man was dangerous, she never stuck around to find out of it was true.

But circumstances this time were different. She may not always like Frank, but she did trust him - FDR would never hang around with untrustworthy people.

"He'll leave on his own." She said between gritted teeth.

The man behind the door did not agree on that. "Katie please, _please_ let's talk about this."

Tuck gave her a knowing look. "I don't think he will."

He saw her close her eyes and rub her temples, heard her hiss and her hand tightened in a fist. When she looked at him again, there was an apology written all over her face.

"I'm so _mortified_ about this."

"Don't be." He responded and his tone was so unwavering that she believed him.

She sighed and for the first time, he saw her sad. "I'm gonna go now. Thanks for the temporary hideaway."

Tuck got up with her. "I told you, I can make him leave. You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to."

The fraction-of-a-second hesitation in her eyes was enough. He got up and was about to step towards the door, but then a hand on his forearm stopped him.

"It was tempting for a moment, but I fight my own battles." She said with such decision that he didn't have to insist because he already knew that she had made up her mind. She strode over there and opened the door.

"Katie…" The man breathed out.

"Don't call me that." her tone was as frosty as a winter morning, her eyes unforgiving. "It's over Andy. It's been over for _months_. Just go, leave me be."

"_No_. How can it over? '_I don't love you anymore, goodbye_.' And then you just leave? No explanation, no nothing? Is that how it's going to be?"

"Yes, that's _exactly_ how it's going to be." Kate said with a strange angry tilt to her voice.

"Kate…"

"Don't you remember _why_ Chris? Don't you remember having _anything_ to do with that? That shit you pulled…" The man on the other side of the door was silent and that silence was filled with the heaviness of shame and regret. But Kate didn't seem affected by it. The resolution in her eyes was unmovable.

"I told you I was sorry!" The boy whispered and Tuck could head the tears in his tone.

"Yeah, so you said the first time." Kate whispered, her voice wavering, but not her eyes. She had already made her decision. All her life she had taken care of herself. She made choices and stuck by them.

Rule number one: _never_ waste what's good.

Rule number two: Never _ever_ keep what's not.

The bad things you keep eventually destroy you. She had seen that happen to her mother, she would never let that happen to herself. Andy was alright, but he was not for her, not the way it turned out.

"Now you listen to me really carefully." Kate started and Tuck recognized the tone. This was the beginning of a threat. "I've told you nicely, I've told you firmly, and now I'm telling you for the last time: You're going to go and you're never going to come looking for me again. You'll never talk to me, call me, or you'll never come by my house _ever_ again, do you understand me?"

"Are you threatening me? Seriously? Is this where we've come to?"

"Yeah, Chris this is where we've come to. Goodnight." She spoke quietly, reasonably and then made to close the door but the thump of his foot against it heard and the door stuck on Kate's hands.

"Who're you with in there? Is there someone else? Is that why you're dropping me like this?"

Kate groaned. "Oh _god_!"

"Don't pull that shit on me _Katerina_! Tell me the truth!"

Tuck knew that new-found tilt in the man's voice. He was a breath away from breaking into violence. That was his queue. But, as per usual, Franklin would choose the most opportune moment to show himself.

"Katie! What's going on here?"

"Who the fuck are you?"

Tuck heard Frank's chuckle. When he spoke again, his voice held the quiet promise of serious violence.

"Well, seeing that you are standing in front of _my_ door, yelling at _my_ cousin in the middle of the night, I'm thinking _I_ should be the one to ask _you_ who you are. But I seriously don't give a fuck, so piss off."

"Hey Frank." Kate mumbled, a little begrudged. She didn't like to be pulled out of hairy situations by other, it seemed.

People who were so adamant about doing everything themselves usually had something to prove, but Kate lacked the intensity and consciousness that came with that particular way of living. She did not insist on doing things on her own – she simply _did_ them, without even considering the possibility of someone elses' helping hand. All that made Tuck think she had been on her own and taking care of herself for a long time.

"Hey Katie. Bye asshole."

"Wait a second…"

Frank turned towards the boy and pinned him with his most withering stare. "Listen up pal, you are going to leave here now and never bother my cousin again, or I call another couple of my _other_ cousins and we show you _exactly_ what we're so famous for in the east coast."

FDR pushed Kate inside and closed the door behind himself. Then he gave her a long look, half amused half curious.

"Did I just pull a 'white knight in shining armor' here?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Please. I had it all under control." She mumbled.

"Are you really cousins?" Tuck asked looking from one to the other.

Kate snorted. "I wish. But no, we're just embarrassingly old acquaintances."

"That hurts my feelings Katie. I'd at least say we're old friends."

"We were never friends Franklin."

"Yes we were." Frank said with a smile. "She made me my firs fake ID – really good ones too. I fooled a cop with one of those once. I call that a very strong measure of friendship."

Kate rolled her eyes. "If you say so."

Tuck felt the need to press pause and rewind. "Wait a sec. _You_ made him a fake IDs? How old were you?"

Kate smirked. It wouldn't really do for her to tell him that she had been making fake IDs for the older kids in high-school since she was 13. It was with that kind of money that she could afford all the best hardware without ever asking for anything from her uncle of any of her other relatives.

"Old enough. Goodnight boys." She said shortly and turned around. Tuck thought she was going to sit down on the couch again, but she made for the window.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Going. Crisis averted. Thanks for the support."

Tuck raised the phone as if that was supposed to mean something. "But the pizza is coming."

She stopped by the window. "You don't mind?"

"Of course not." Tuck said so fast that it was obvious he honestly meant it.

"I do." Frank interjected as he took off his coat.

"Nobody asked you Tinkles." Kate deadpanned and jumped on the sofa again. Tuck almost choked on his beer.

"…unless you share the food, of course." Franklin snapped and threw a pillow at Kate, who gave him the bird.

"I don't share my food with people who reek of three different kinds of perfumes."

Frank frowned, smelled himself and winced.

"Go shower Unibrow, you stink."

"I got it, I got it. Save me a slice."

"We will." Tuck said absentmindedly.

"No, we won't." Kate chipped in, making Frank smile. She was still as confrontational as he remembered her, so much that sometimes she was the one to fish for a fight. It was good fun though, because her wit was rare to come by: snappy and prickly, but not viscous – when she was playing that is.

Ten minutes later Kate and FDR were draped on the sofa watching the first Terminator while Tuck worked on his laptop on the couch right next to Kate. She kept sneaking glances at him from time to time, trying to be discreet about it. She just couldn't _stop_ looking at him…

He was so atypically handsome. His features were rough but softened by the odd femininity of his lips, so round and full. His eyes sharp, and so intense that she kinda felt like squirming whenever she looked at her for too long. And his smile, so asymmetrically cute. She had never really met or even seen a travel agent that looked the way he did. It just seemed so unreal that someone like him could do something as normal as work in an office.

Oh no wait, he actually _traveled_ for his job. That was what he and Frank were doing in New York actually – they were here for a few weeks, for work.

She would love to do that someday... travel the world.

"Is the British accent real?" She asked as she reached for a slice of his pizza. Tuck smiled at her from over the laptop.

"It is. I was born here, but I was raised there until I was sixteen."

"Then what happened?"

"I moved back with my mum." He said with a smile and then look down on his computer again. He had that polite evasiveness about him that she could relate to very easily. Family seemed to be touchy thing for him and since she could relate to the distress perfectly well, she didn't push him for more information.

Unfortunately, FDR did not have that kind of delicacy…

"Ah, uncomfortable family history... Kate could write books on that one." Frank said as he stretched like a cat. Kate glared at him, trying to will him into silence. Tuck looked over at her and then at his friend with an inquisitive frown.

"Our dear Katie here comes from a long line of mob bosses." Frank explained.

"My _god_ Franklin, you're worse than gossiping old women!" She snapped, but Frank only smiled.

"Don't worry, Tuck can keep a secret like nobody else, right Tuck?"

Kate glared at him.

That fly-mouthed idiot was stupider than he looked if he thought it was alright to talk about things like that in front of virtual strangers. She had not moved a thousand miles away to be chased by the ghost of her family here too for fuck's sake, and yet Frank didn't seem to grasp that concept, he felt that he could talk about her family as if being mobsters was just another middle class profession or something to brag about. What an asshole! _Jesus_!

But then Kate made the decidedly hesitating move of looking over to gauche Tuck's reaction and the calmness she saw in his eyes brought her to ease as fast as Frank's comment had riled her up. Tuck didn't seem rattled at all, he was so smooth and cool that she thought it was either an act, or he was really _that_ kind of guy, who always kept himself and the situation under control.

She couldn't decide if his coolness under that kind of news was amazing or creepy…

"So, how is the Orlov family going to celebrate Christmas this year?" Frank pushed – a decidedly bad move.

"Fuck you, Unibrow." Katie said flatly as she practically threw the beer bottle at him. She snatched another slice of pizza, unceremoniously shoving it into her mouth.

Tuck stared at his partner, the question obvious in his eyes, and noticed Frank give him an imperceptible nod and a smirk and Tuck swallowed a '_holy fuck'_. Was she really related by _blood_ with the Orlov bratva - the Russian mob kings? _Jesus fucking Christ_! How the hell was that even possible, all the Orlovs in their watch-lists lived either in LA or somewhere around there, like a big clan.

And yet, Katerina Anderson _nee._ Orlov, the apartment he was currently inhabiting, was literally on the other side of the country…

"That is _not_ my name and I have _nothing_ to do with those people." Kate said definitively as she glared daggers at FDR who made a face at her.

"Yeah, but your uncle has been the most wanted mobster in the USA for the last twenty years, that's something."

"If you say so." She said flatly, eyes never leaving the screen, face as impassive as stone. "I have never spoken to the man, so I guess I'll have to take your word for it."

"Is that why you moved to the west coast? To get away from them?" Tuck asked carefully and when her eyes snapped to his he could see the silent strength of her sizzling from the inside out. She was fire made person, the intensity of her core visible in the sharpness of her amber eyes.

"It's part of the reason." she said quietly as her eyes stared deeply into his.

She shouldn't have answered him that honestly, but she felt like she wanted to make some kind of connection with him. She had no idea but her instinct told her that it was ok, that she could be honest because he didn't seem like the kind of guy to be fooled into the Hollywood-glamour of the whole mob-princess idea (which was bullshit) or like the kind to be frightened of her because of it. Kate had absolutely no clue why she felt that way, but her instinct told her that he would understand.

On the inside, she snorted at herself. _It's the ink on his arms, I'm a sucker for tattoos_, she thought derisively, taunting her own melodramatic thinking.

"She's not so bad herself, you know. She was the youngest person to ever be send to the principal's office in our school."

Tuck smiled, relieved that Frank had decided to change the topic and lighten the mood. "How old were you?"

Kate looked irritated, but she still answered. "Six. I punched a boy in the face."

Tuck smiled around his mouthful of pepperoni and mushrooms – he liked it.

"Why?" He mumbled around his food. He knew she wouldn't mind. She had the kind of relaxed manner that made you feel like anything would could do around her would be alright.

"He said he liked me."

Tuck had to laugh at that.

"And from then on, it just got worse and worse." Frank added.

"It most certainly did not! I am a perfectly model citizen." Katie stated, taking a gulp of her beer.

"You shoved a guy off a cliff." FDR deadpanned, making Tuck almost choke on his beer. His reaction made Kate chuckle.

He coughed a couple of times then looked at her in disbelief. "You did?"

"There was a lake below." She said almost as she is was trying to justify herself. But he could see that she was not sorry, it wasn't in her eyes.

FDR snorted. "Yeah, _sixty feet_ below."

"Whatever, he deserved it - he tried to grope me on the lunch-line." Katie said with the kind of finality that left no room for more information and Tuck had the wisdom not to ask her for more. He had a feeling that the more he asked about her the more he'd want to know and he told himself repeatedly that he could not afford to get distracted.

That did not stop him from doing a little on-the-side research later that night, after FDR and their target had gone to sleep.

What he found kept him interested for the rest of the night.

That was how he became introduced with the life of Katerina Anderson Orlov.


	3. Chapter 3

**3.**

The office she worked in was big, but it didn't seem like it because of how much it was stocked. There were five different computer screens on her desk, a printer, scanner, trackers and god knew what other gadgets all over the place. She was organized and very careful about where she put her things. She always knew exactly where to look when she needed something and that was the reason she never let anyone into her office, not even the cleaning lady. She did everything herself, this was her kingdom.

Currently, She was working on the new Bosco account.

Mr. Anthony Bosco was one of the usual over-wealthy businessmen that was were either paranoid or self-flattering enough to want to spent hundreds of thousands of his dollars on top of the line security. Either way, Kate didn't care what he wanted it for, it was her job to devise them, so she did her job.

The catch was that his house was in the woods, so that had been a small challenge that had amused her… for a couple of days. It had taken her a that long to come up with blueprints of sensors that would not go off if some wild animal tried to approach the house. A little more than that to set them up and the cameras, the heat detectors and to test all of them in every way possible before closing the account. Right now she was running a last trial on the program that was supposed to handle the security set of the house. It would be automatic, a direct line with the closest patrol in the area. She had programmed it herself, even updated the police program to fit it.

A knock sounded on her door.

"Come in." She said without looking up from her typing.

Ben poked his head inside.

"Kate, we _may_ have a problem." He said swiftly.

"Talk me into it, I'm almost done here." She murmured, as if she was talking distractedly as she typed. But she still listened to every word – the FBI had contacted them as a liaison for another case: the needed to retrieve any kind of data they could from a few pieces of burned tec. The computers were not that badly damaged from the fire, the real problem was that the encryption on them was state-of-the-art.

Ten minutes later she was into the conference room, listening to the brainstorming going on.

"Is there no back-up?"

"No. The FBI didn't find anything. This is all we have."

"Do we know how big his unit was?" Marcus, their technical engineer asked from his desk as he tried to dismantle a burned laptop and find something in it that could still be savaged. There were several more pieces of technology that had seemed to be caught in the fire.

"We _could_ ask, but in my experience most men lie about that." Jessica said from her chair as and Kate chuckled along with the rest.

"So… where do you want me to look first?" Ben asked as he finally got through the firewalls on the first one. They had been told that that one was the one the suspect used most often so there was a chance that there was something to be found in there.

"I want a full scan, see for anything that got caught between files, a ghost in the machine, anything to give us a hint of the matrix to decipher the encryption on this thing. I'll work on the cracking this baby here." Kate said as she patted the Mac Book in front of her. the computer was so tightly hardwired that the FBI agents hadn't even been able to go past the first firewall.

She took the computer and holed herself in her office for the next five hours.

oOoOo

Tuck walked out of the store, the few groceries in his hand and trying in the mean time to light a fag as he went. His eyes scanned his surroundings, waiting for the time to go 06.03 so that, as previously accorded, he could call FDR. Frank then would fake deep sorrow from a very bad news and would need consoling, which would lead him to the girls apartment in no time, at least according to Franklin.

But he didn't doubt his friends ability to manipulate himself into women's beds. He had seen it happen enough times to take FDR's word for it.

06.03 had come and gone and now Tuck had to make a different call, to make sure that FDR succeeded in hacking into the target's internet line so that they could keep track of her net movements and who she contacted with n the privacy of her home. Whipping up a device that would help them do that had been tricky, but Drew had come through in the end.

_Three weeks_… and they hadn't even found anything relevant on this female. If this had been any other job, they would have been pulled out (if this had been any other job, they wouldn't even _be_ there…) Liz was really going overboard with this whole punishment thing.

Tuck took out is phone and dialed his only real contact in there.

"Hey my man." FDR's voice came clear from the other end of the line. Tuck cut to the chase.

"Did you do it?" he asked as he threw his cigar on the sidewalk and stepped on it.

"Are you seriously asking me that"?

"No, I called to flirt." Tuck deadpanned. Frank chuckled in his ear

"Relax man, I got it." FDR droned and Tuck sighed. "You sound uptight, whasup?"

"I'm not uptight, I'm bloody _bored_. We need to wrap this up and move the fuck on."

"Wow… you need to chill my friend. Think of it as a well deserved vacation."

Tuck rolled his eyes, already irritated. He was about to snap that he didn't want t freaking vacation, he wanted his job back, his _life_ back. But just as he was about to do that, a black bike came to a sudden stop right next to his feet and did so way too fast for comfort. Immediately he took a step back, tense and ready to act.

Tuck felt his muscles tense and he fixed his eyes on the rider. It had to be a kid: he had no muscle mass whatsoever, so much that he seemed a hermaphrodite. Black pants, black Caterpillar boots, black leather jacket, black cask over his head… Reluctantly, he admitted to himself that it even might be a woman, going from that nicely shaped rear… and the light, easily maneuverable model of the bike, but it was not a serious afterthought. It didn't really matter.

"Gotta go." Tuck said stiffly and closed the call, his eyes never leaving the rider's helmet. The glass was dark so he couldn't see who it was behind the thing.

Just when he was about to decide whether he was going to walk away or not, the rider took off his helmet… and Tuck was left there, gawking like a fish out of water, stunned speechless for the first time in years.

"Kate?"

Her chuckle was warm, pleasant, amber eyes sparkled as the wavy dark hair cascaded down her back, free from the helmet that had been holding them up.

She seemed so different from the girl he knew, who wore fluffy bright-colored socks, baggy sweats and wool sweaters over lace-bordered tank tops; a girl who always had a sunny smile and a hello for him whenever they bumped into each other in the stairs or in the elevator. _This_ girl now in front of him, with the leather jacket and biker wear seemed like a wholly different person. He would have never imagined Kate like that, but he had to admit that the ways he seemed to have so many layers to her person was intriguing.

"Hey Tuck. You looked ready to kick my ass for a moment there." She said lightly as she stepped off the bike, smiling at him openly.

That was when he reminded himself that he shouldn't be so surprised, that he had seen the toughness in her eyes since the first time he had seen her. And her open smile was the same as ever, her eyes sparkling, so much that he found himself smiling back at her easily, without even realizing it.

All of a sudden, the frustration that had been darkening his day simply ebbed away, like a headache you forgot about.

"Well, you were about to run me over, so I was justified."

She laughed as she unzipped her jacket and then the dark gray hoodie underneath, as if she was too hot all of a sudden - her cheeks were flushed, her eyes shiny. The black tank top underneath had lacy borders and he was reminded again of the girl he knew.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I saw you as I came here and decided to startle you a bit." She said with a wide smile and winked at him. He chuckled.

"It's alright, I needed it." And he meant it. "What are you doing around here?"

She nodded towards a big electronic store on the other side of the street. "Had to pick up a few things. Are you going home afterwards?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have a ride?" She asked with a smile.

Tuck eyed her bike suspiciously and she laughed again. "I think I'd rather walk." He said but then laughed as well.

"Come on Tuck, I'm a fantastic rider. _Never_ had an accident, I swear."

Yeah, he already knew that. She'd never had so much as a speeding ticket.

"Alright, but only if you promise to take it easy on me."

"I promise." She said solemnly, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Wanna come with me to the store? I'll be just a few minutes."

"Sure, I'd love to see a little more of what you do."

"Oh yeah? Well come one then, I'll show you all about it."

Tuck smiled and walked along with her and chatted idly until they went into the store and she started fishing for what she needed without wasting time. He notice how she nodded the helping boy away, seemingly perfectly capable of orienting herself among the electronic gadgets and whatnots. She knew exactly what she wanted and she didn't hesitate.

Tuck was starting to get the feeling that she was like that in every aspect of her life.

"It looks like some serious technology in here. What do you need all this stuff for?"

"Work." She answered simply as she went over to the end of the island and picked out some stuff that he had never seen before – and he'd been trained for that kinda stuff.

"What kind of work do you do? I've never asked."

"I have my own company, a small one; we deal in high-tech security and investigation."

Tuck's eyebrows went up in an obvious show of surprise. He already knew that of course, since he's already gone through her background (her small company was in fact one of the most demanded in its field, since they had a reputation for being fail-proof. None of her systems had ever been breached and that was a record), but surprise like this had been his first reaction so he reckoned simulating it now was appropriate.

"You have your own company and you're what, 23, 24…?"

"I'll be 24 in a few weeks." Kate said with a smile, looking up at him from over her shoulder – she had been crouching down, scanning some stuff he had no idea what it was for.

"That's amazing." Tuck said, meaning every syllable. She was amazing, in a lot of different ways…

She shrugged. "It's alright. Work is never short for sure. Lots of paranoid people out there."

"Yeah, you can never run short of those. And what do you _do_ exactly?" He asked and this was an honest question because he actually wanted to know. She had just downplayed her job but he knew better than to believe her. That was part of the information that was not in her background check. The details were nowhere to be found, not unless he went full on CIA on her life – and Tuck hadn't wanted to do that.

She was not a target, she was just a girl he had been curious about. Going any deeper in her life than he already had would have been completely immoral.

"I develop motion detectors, heat sensors, or update preexisting ones, make them better. I write computer programs that control environments to made sure nobody goes where they are not supposed to go. I program firewalls and computer protection against foreign attacks, from viruses or other agents, like hackers. I'm pretty sure that my encrypting techniques are some of the top in the market right now… I can do other stuff as well, but that is classified and on need to know basis only." She looked at him with a strange secretive smile, and he knew that she was only joking but he could not help a chuckle. It felt so strange having her say those words to him.

This had to be what people meant when they talked about the touch of serendipity.

"You like your job huh?"

Her smile stretched wider. "I love my job."

"And you're good at it."

She shrugged. "Yeah, that's one of the reasons I love it so much: I can do it well."

She put the stuff she'd bough on the counter and looked at him waiting for the boy to give her the receipt.

"How did you start? Frank said you were some kind of genius or something since you were a kid."

She rolled her eyes. "Franklin exaggerates, as per usual." There were a few moments of pause, during which she seemed to think on the best way to put her thoughts.

"I don't know how it started, I've just always loved everything electronic for as long as I can remember. I was always tearing stuff apart and putting them back together, wanting to know how everything worked - I was five when I learned how to build a radio."

His disbelief was obvious in his expression, as was his awe. "Are you serious?"

She chuckled at his earnestness. "Yeah. It actually worked, I couldn't believe it myself!" She laughed at the memory.

"My mother kept it for years. She was the best teacher I could have had, always had the answer for everything. She was a mechanical engineer, could built anything from scratch if she wanted." The pride in her voice laced with an intrinsic sadness that seemed to scratch at the edges of her tone, at the corners of her eyes.

That's when he knew that she had loved her mother very much. Knowing that her mother had died when she was 15 was not the same as hearing it in her voice.

"And computers… I _loved_ computers. My best birthday present was when I was eight and got my first Mackintosh. _That_ was when I knew I wanted to do with my life."

"What's that?" he asked softly, almost right by her ear - so much closer than she had expected him to be that she had to look up at him, and when she did, her smile melted off her face. He was staring at her so intensely that for a moment she forgot all about what she had been doing, saying... almost forgot to take in her next breath. She simply let herself be drawn into him, into him, there was no fighting it. Looking into his eyes in that moment felt impossibly irresistible, like falling off a trampoline with no lifeline or security net…

It was a strange mixture of frightening and exhilarating.

"Miss…"

The voice hanged in the air like a call that had been repeated several times before finally filtering in. They both startled, Kate a little more than Tuck because she had not realized what had happened at all. But she covered it with a nervous smile and movement, as she took out the money she needed to pay. But Tuck was not so quick to brush off his momentary distraction. In fact, he was deeply disturbed by it, because he literally could not, under any circumstance, afford to be that careless in the field.

"I'm so sorry, but…" The boy looked at his left and Kate was a little embarrassed to see that there was a line they were holding up. She laughed then, freely and shocking almost everyone within earshot – Tuck included.

"That will be 479.35$." the boy said a little hesitatingly, looking at them with an apology written all over her face.

"Almost 500 dollars? What have you got in there?" He asked once they were out of the shop.

"Blah, I don't wanna bore you with the names, they're useless until I actually do something with them."

"What are you planning to do with them?"

"Work. I have a new case from the FBI – they contact us from time to time, to help them with the high-teck stuff. I have to hack into a uber-protected computer, retrieve anything I can from it."

"FBI huh. Sounds serious." He observed. Because this time he was thrown. He had not read _that_ in her background check. Surely, the FBI liked to keep their resources sealed, so he doubted he'd even find it in a deeper search.

"It's my good deed for the day." She explains frivolously, downplaying what mattered to her again. She put her stuff in the pocket of her bike, and reached to him for his groceries as well.

Then she zipped up her hoodie, her jacket, put on her leather gloves and hopped on the bike, looking at him with a challenging expression. Tuck smirked, came closer and threw his leg over, sitting right next to her, so close that her back was right against his front, his thighs pressed against hers. There was no other way of sitting and quite frankly he couldn't really think of a better way. He could feel her alive and close to him and it was exhilarating… and a little daunting, feeling how easily breakable she was despite the inner strength of her. It reminded him how easily he could hurt her, because of who he was, of how he lived.

Who he _really_ was and what he was doing here and now were an oxymoron, incompatible - and Tuck had never been more aware of that than in this moment, with Kate so close to him he could feel her breathing. His life, his _real_ life, was a mixture of violence and fast paced action and no rest; blood, death and gore were the main players in his existence during its worst moments; constant danger and vigilance at its best. There was no time, no opportunity for anyone else in that kind of life. Pretending that it was any different was the most selfish thing that he could ever do.

So what the fuck was he doing now?

Tuck didn't really have an answer for that. Maybe, he reasoned, he just needed a break, a clean getaway, a pause from himself.

What he was doing right now was not reality, even thought it felt more real than anything in a long, long time. This was a slice of something else… and he _liked_ this something else. He liked it right now more than he had liked anything for a long time and it was surprising to find that out so suddenly.

He leaned forward and put his hands on the smooth plastic cover of the taillight, practically wrapping her in a loose embrace. Kate felt the heat of him seep through her clothes, through her skin and smiled. When he spoke, his deep voice was right by her ear.

"So, where am I supposed to hold on?"

She felt her breath leave her lungs in a rush. The sound of his voice so close she could feel the vibration of it from his chest was just… oh, _wow_…

Kate felt a little giddy and for a moment, she just wanted to laugh to let the butterflies out. She _liked_ this. She had not had this much fun out of something so silly in a while. Tuck seemed to be like that – easy fun. Kate leaned back, pressing herself against him even more and turned her head a little to the side, finding his lips a few short inches over hers. He was smiling.

"I'm the only thing you can hold on to right now." She said with a smile, without realizing that her voice had gone a little more husky than usual.

They stayed like that for a moment and then Kate couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. She was not laughing at him, she was just laughing. She was happy and to her it was simple: when she felt like this, there was no reason in the world to hold back anything. His chuckle vibrated through her and that cut the laugh short, because it started something else, deep inside her gut. But the smile remained, even though now it was there for another reason.

Kate handed him his helmet and put on the first gear. When she spoke again, she was serious, even though the hint of a smile was still in her tone, in her eyes.

"Have you ever been on a bike before?"

"Yeah, I have."

"As a passenger?" She asked doubtfully. Tuck smiled.

"That too."

"Alright then. Hold on."

He should have known from the pleasure she took in warning him that this was one of the worst ideas he'd had in a long, _long_ time.


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: Ok in this chapter i tried to give them some history, make the characters connect a little. I hope i did good. Let me know what yout think_.

**4.**

When the bike stopped at the foot of their building, Kate put her leg out, to balance its weight. She felt Tuck untangle his arms from her wais and step off. She took off her helmet and laughed, looking for his face as she turned, trying to gauche his reaction.

He took off the helmet and rubbed his face, the looking at her sternly. His pretence failed, because the laughter that he was trying to hide was in his eyes.

"I am _never_ getting on that thing with you ever again."

Her laughter bounced off the people passing through, who turned to look at her. She had a lovely laugh, so melodic.

"It's called an adrenaline fix, Tuck, google it. Besides, you had fun, don't deny it." Her amusement was so strong that it made her sound as if she was skipping through the words, laughing through them.

"I _am_ denying it. You drive like a maniac."

"I totally went easy on you!"

Tuck snorted. "If that was easy, I don't want to know what you mean by going too fast."

Kate handed him his groceries, stopping to smirk up at him. "Maybe I'll show you one day."

Her voice was low and she was looking at him through her lashes and if he hadn't known better, he would have thought she was flirting with him. His eyes went to her slightly parted lips and he had to resist the urge to touch her face.

She saw his eyes, the way they flickered over her. She read his intention as easily as if it had been written on his forehead… and she _liked_ it. Kate leaned in just one breath, enough to tease him with the possibility, enough to make the chance of kissing him real, enough to feel his breath on her face, the heat of him close to her. Kate would have liked to think that it was deliberate, that she was teasing him, drawing him in, but the moment she stepped close enough to feel his breath on her lips, that became was self-flattery. The second she had come close enough to smell him, the seducer had turned into the seduced, and the tables turned on her with such incredible ease that it startled her. Just the thought of having him lips on hers was… inebriating, it made her head spin a little, her insides tingle with anticipation.

But he didn't make any moves to get closer, to close that gab…

Kate blinked away her feelings and took a step back. She smiled at him, but this time it was a little less radiant than usual, a little dulled.

"I should go." She breathed out, a little self consciously, maybe even slightly embarrassed for being so affected when he seemed to perfectly calm.

Maybe she hadn't read him that clearly…

She had planned to work at home tonight, but since she didn't feel like sharing the elevator with Tuck at the moment (man disappointment tasted a lot like humiliation and they were both awful) she stepped back towards her bike, ready to make another ride around the block before she went home.

Maybe she should just order some Chinese and sleep at the office tonight…

A flash thought startled her, and she realized how childish she was being, how stupid: she had not fully understood just how much she had wanted him to kiss her until the moment when he had decided that he was not going to. It was so strange to get so upset about something thing so small. After all, Kate barely knew the guy, he was virtually a stranger…

_Aaand_ now she was making excuses to make herself feel better, perfect!

Couldn't she just be a grown up and admit that she was into him… a lot? And that he apparently was not. Seriously, accept it and move on.

There it was, problem solved.

"I thought you were going home?" He said suddenly, startling her. Probably because even though she had moved away, he had apparently followed her and was not standing close, as close as they had been a moment ago. He hadn't mean to do that, it had just happened.

This time when she looked up at him, the surprise was obvious, as was the suspicion at the corner of her eyes. Tuck berated himself for it. He had broken her trust and made her feel uncomfortable, he knew that. She had expected him to kiss her and _god_, he had wanted to _so much _that at one moment it had felt like he could almost taster her… but… how could he do that, how could he ever be so selfish?

He couldn't. It wouldn't be fair. She was so fun and open and smart and _gorgeous_… she deserved so much more than having someone lie his way into her trust. It had almost taken _all he had_ not to smash his lips on hers a second ago and just let everything happen, but even though he had decided not to – for _her_, not for him, he had decided it would be safer for _her_ – the thought of her leaving now was strangely so much harder to accept. He had been able to keep from indulging himself, but he just didn't want to deny himself her company just yet.

"I thought I was, but I have to upgrade this equipment as fast as I can and at home it would take me hours." Kate said as she closed in on her bike again.

"Oh, right. Got it."

Kate looked at him then and she thought she detected disappointment in his tone, but this point she could not be sure.

"Bye Tuck. I'll see you around." She said with a smile, and winked at him before she put on her helmet.

That was when Tuck decided to be stupid.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?"

Kate looked at him without being able to hide her surprise… or how much she liked the idea, when the smile stretched on her face lie a silly little girl that was being asked on her first date.

"I mean, it would have to be in the apartment, because I'm waiting for some important phone calls and you'd have to bear with my cocking, unless we decide to order takeouts…"

"I think I'd like to see you cook. What can you do?" she asked leaning on the bike, looking at him with a smile and a challenge in her eyes.

"Well, I was thinking along the lines of pasta, salad, some fried chicken with vegetables if you're up for the challenge."

"I certainly am." She said as she dismounted. This might turn out to be good fun after all…

oOoOoOo

"…Oh my _god_! What did you do?"

Her hands were frozen in mid-work as she stared wide eyed at Tuck, who was mixing the vegetables on the pan, making sure they didn't burn. He could _really_ cook, and not like men generally claim but then turn out to only have the ability to whip up something to fill the stomach with. He could actually make a _meal_.

"I ran like hell!" Tuck said as if it was obvious, chuckling at the memory. However, there was very little that Kate found funny about him breaking into a private property to steal some stupid trophy on a dare, and then being chased out of there by rampant dogs.

She was still staring at him open mouthed.

"How old were you?" She asked, still shocked that he had not gotten himself bitten.

Tuck thought over it for a moment. "I think I was about 16." He looked up at her over the counter and she handed him the chopped vegetables, which he added to the mix.

"Wow…" Kate breathed out, shocked. She had been a wild card when she had been younger as well, but she had been doing that from the safety of her home. Tuck on the other hand… well, his pastimes seemed to have been a lot more physically demanding.

"Did you get caught?"

He nodded, biting his bottom lip. "Yup. I didn't care at the time, it was something I actually bragged about. I can't believe it now. I was such a mess, uncomfortable in my own skin and taking that out on everybody else. I got into fights all the time, kept on my own, never talked to anyone…"

Tuck looked at her and saw the genuine concern in her eyes, as if she was still wondering about his issues. He had not talked about this to anyone, not even Frank – but that because he had never had to. Frank had a strange way of grasping things without Tuck ever having to voice them, they had always been able to be in the same wavelength. Still, frankly taking about it like he was doing now was something new to him.

The fact that Kate's face was so free of any judgment helped loosening his tongue. And it also helped not having to _guess_ what she would think of him: Tuck knew that she would not judge or feel sorry for him or pity him or try to fix him. People that had experience with fucked up childhood tended to understand their way around this kind of situations. There was nothing quite like that particular experience.

"You were kind of messed up huh?" She said softly. His smile was not the sad one she expected. There was no regret in his eyes.

"I was, yeah, but I got over it."

He smiled again, looking at her straight in the eye and in that smile she could never see this trouble making hellraiser that he had just described. He had the sweetest smile she had ever seen.

"I believe you. How did you manage that?"

He shrugged. "I moved here with my aunt, who was quite frankly, the scariest woman I have ever met…" Kate chuckled. "She practically saved my life though. I got away from everything I knew, made new friends. Aunt Janine made me go into bloody _therapy_ – it was either that or home arrest: her husband was in the police, so that would have been easy for her to pull off. She put me through all these sports until I settled in kickboxing. She sat with me through my homework, made me graduate, I got a sports scholarship for college…"

"What did you major on?"

"Business and Finance – _not_ as boring as it sounds." He warned and she laughed. "But it _was_ boring sitting in an office all day, so I changed jobs until I found one that I liked."

"Right, a travel agent that actually travels, the rarity that tops them all."

His smile made her wish she could crawl over just a few more inches and bite his lips.

"And now here you are…"

She angled her head as she smiled at him and her hair fell a little over her eye. He didn't realize what he was doing until he saw his hand reaching for her face, putting that strand behind her ear.

"Yup, here I am."

Nor did he notice that his voice had gone so low, or that he had gotten so close, or that she had the softest lips he had ever felt – and he knew that because his thumb had just skimmed over her bottom lip. He felt almost all the air in the room disappear when he saw her eyes darken and her lips parted ever so slightly, her breath leaving her in a rush.

He let his hand fall away, his fingers trailing a burning path down her throat.

"What were _you_ like when you were 14?" He then asked softly, shaking her out of her trance.

He seemed to be struggling to keep appearances as well. Kate narrowed her eyes at him at that question because judging by the knowing glint that had made its way into her eyes, Tuck already had a pretty clear idea. Franklin, that ass, had probably spilled all the beans on her – Kate cringed internally- that idiot only knew the tip of the iceberg, but still, it was some pretty strong stuff considering that she had been barely into puberty when pulling it off.

"What, didn't you already ask Franklin about that?" She teased, sipping from her beer so that she could have something to do with her hands. His smile widened, eyes sparkling.

"I did, but the picture he painted has lots of holes in it."

Kate raised one eyebrow at him trying to look as innocent as possible. "Does it? What did he say - so that I can fill the right holes for you."

"Or maybe so that you know exactly what you're going to kick his ass for later." Tuck suggested, leaning against the small counter so that his face was five inches away from hers.

His eyes were such a fantastic shade of smoky grey… she'd _never_ ever seen eyes like that.

"I don't deny that the thought crossed my mind." Kate said, smiling at him, trying to lighten the mood. Trying to decide if she was going to tell him the truth or not.

Then she decided. Why the hell not. She wanted him bad, he was super hot and into her, and – this was the best part about getting together with him - he was _not_ a permanent here. He and Frank were going to leave in a few weeks, so it was not like he could be any danger to her. He was safe because of that, just some healthy fun and they both knew that. So why not have some clean fun?

Besides, Tuck didn't look like the kind of guy to go and sue her if she told him a few particulars that might be not entirely legal. He was looking at her as if he knew exactly what he had to do: wait as she made her decision, without pushing or pulling. Jezz, was he always this patient? Kate felt herself relax.

_Good things to those who wait..._

"Ok. When I was 16…" Kate took a deep breath. "Actually, I started drawing out of the lines a little sooner than that. School was easy for me, I actually liked it you know – yeah I'm that girl, so no geek-comments, I have heard them all…" Tuck chuckled, raising his hands in surrender, signaling that he would not be doing any teasing. "I skipped some classes, got right into high school when I was 13 and it was fucking awful!"

Tuck laughed because she spoke in a mixture of anger and amusement. "Why?"

"A 13 year old seating through Physics 10, are you serious? I was the spaz everyone would have loved to pick on."

"_Would_ have loved? So they didn't?" But Tuck had a feeling he already knew the answer to that.

"Oh, trust me, they tried."

Tuck egged her on. "But…"

Kate smiled. "There was this girl in my math class, she was about 16. The prettiest of the year, cheerleader, blonde, blue eyes - you get the picture. Well, she had a strange sadistic streak and since I was an easy target, she and her friends loved hazing me whenever they got bored. Her favorite was calling me Billboard-Brow because of my forehead and basically trying to humiliate me in front of as much people as possible. I was pretty irritating."

Kate took another swing out of her bottle and Tuck felt that the best part of the story was coming.

"Well, one day, she got one of the cutest guys in class to ask me out as a joke. She had some kind of cruel prank in mind doubtlessly."

Tuck turned serious, because so had her eyes. He dreaded for a second what she would tell him.

"Oh don't worry, I saw it coming from a mile away." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the planet. "And the _guy_, I mean seriously, I can't believe he thought I would ever consider going _anywhere_ near him."

Tuck snorted in his bear. "I thought you said he was the cutest in class."

"He was an arrogant ass and a bully. They should at least have found someone that was nice to me. But apparently the power of a pretty face is supposed to be absolute."

"Obviously not. So what happened?"

"I hit him in the face with the chemistry book. Then I caught Mario from her hair, wrestled her facedown on the floor and threatened to cut it in her sleep if she didn't leave me alone."

Tuck stared at her in disbelief. "Did it work?"

Kate laughed. "Of course not. The hazing continued, I got back at them in subtle ways. Eventually they left me alone when they learned I could hack into their computers and shut them down from the other side of the country if I wanted to."

"By the time I was 14, I had already built a reputation for myself. I became the one to go to if you wanted to forge anything, from IDs to parent's signatures. I charged 100$ a piece, and people paid because they knew my product was practically foolproof."

Tuck whistled. "Were you ever caught?" he asked and there was a seriousness in his eyes that caught her unaware for a moment.

"_No_. Nobody knew that it was actually _me_ doing all that stuff. I had a whole network figured out, mostly by mail and internet." She had lost the teasing edge a about three sentences ago, by not her tone was serious and she just kept talking before she lost her nerve.

"By the time I was 15 I had figured out how to hack into almost anything connected to the net. I never did anything strictly illegal."

At his disbelieving look and amused smile, Kate looked down and let a chuckle escape.

_Franklin, I'm _so_going to kill you…_

"Well, I never got caught anyway. I went very close once – doing something that I seriously shouldn't tell you because then I'd have to kill you."

He laughed at that, because she had no idea how close she was to what he did for a living with those words. "That bad huh?"

Kate cringed. "Oh yeah, it was pretty bad."

"Illegal in how many counties?" He asked jokingly. When instead of answering Kate took a deliberate swing of her beer, Tuck frowned even more deeply.

"Ok, don't answer that." He said trying to lighten the mood. She nodded.

"Just out of curiosity, why did you do it, this illegal thing?"

Kate shrugged. "I was young and stupid. And arrogant – I wanted to see how far I could go before I would hit a firewall that would actually keep me out."

"And how far did you do?"

Another deliberate swing from her been and Tuck stared at her, his eyebrows making a jump for his hairline.

"What would have happened if you _had_ gotten caught?" He asked, frowning a little.

"I would have ended up in serious shit." Kate said without the minimal hesitation.

"You were too young to be arrested at that age."

Kate snorted. "Who said anything about the police? The trouble would have come from my beloved family." There was such spiteful note in her tone that for a moment Tuck was caught by surprise. She _really_ did not like her family.

"Can you imagine the kind of jackpot my uncle would have thought I was if he'd known that I could lauder millions for him sitting in a room somewhere? He would have never let us leave."

Tuck looked at her silently, let her find her own pace.

"Before my father died, my mother had to take care of us both alone. My father's family tried to help, but she didn't want to get involved with them like that, and that didn't exactly put her in their good graces. So she packed up our lives and moved out here… and I loved her for it."

"She gave up her whole life so that I could have a choice in how I lived mine." Kate said softly, looking at a spot on the counter, avoiding his eyes. "She died a year later."

"I'm sorry." Tuck said softly, so much that she had to look at him.

"It's ok."

His hand found its way into her hair again and she instinctively leaned into his palm, loving the way the heat of him spread from her cheek to her entire face and neck, making her chest tingle.

After a few moments, "You didn't go back home?"

"No. I had nothing left to go back to over there. So I stayed and made a life for myself."

"How does a 15 year old made a life for herself?" He asked, looking at her as if she was the most fascinating thing on earth.

"I got my GED and managed to get into MIT; they offered me a scholarship and promised I'd stay in a dorm and not at the orphanage. That was the worst thing I could imagine, ending up with some foster family that would want to assimilate me into some other life I did not belong into."

"You were going to college, while I was pissing around with stupid friends and stealing cars. Nice…"

She smiled at nothing in particular. Or maybe she was smiling at him but for no reason.

One hour later they had eaten, done the dishes, and seated themselves in front of the TV, neither of them looking t the screen, because they were too busy talking. Kate knew that she was sitting way to close not to be obvious, but who the hell cared. She was cross-legged on the sofa, facing him, her knees were skimming his thigh.

She had no idea how it happened – which was silly, seeing that she had been looking forward to this for days now, boiling on the inside. But when it happened she almost didn't see it coming. One moment they were laughing together, the next his lips were on hers and she was spinning out of control.

His kiss was like lava, slow and burning her to the core. She almost gasped in his mouth and nipped his full lip and oh _god_, she had been really right about his lips, oh _wow_… The hum she took from his mouth to hers when her tongue skimmed his upper lip made her lean in, reach for him, touching him wherever she could reach. One second she was almost leaning on top of him, the next his hand was at the small of her back and he had pushed her into the couch, easily settling between her legs because of the ways she had been sitting before. She laughed close to his lips and he chuckled with her – the sound vibrating right through her and doing strange things to her insides - but it was a short lived moment because the urge to laugh went away quickly when he pushed himself on top of her, letting her feel his weight, just as he settled on her moth again, this time taking it _very_ seriously.

Kate opened her lips and when she felt him slide into her mouth it was even better than she had imagined. Her arms went around his neck and she pulled him to her roughly, her legs going around him too, locking behind his ass, holding him right where she needed him. He groaned in her mouth and his hand went into her hair, holding on tight enough to hurt, except it really didn't.

He kissed a line from her jaw to her collarbone and she wished he had longer hair so that she could grab it and pull him back to her lips. Her hand went to the back of his neck anyway, and she breathed out his name, hoping he got the message.

When he looked at her at that moment, he was right in her face, eyes the darkest shade of grey she had ever seen and smiling like he was having the time of his life – an expression that was probably mirror of the one she was wearing. It was so amazing to feel so hot that it felt like you blood was on fire, and yet have the urge to laugh, because it felt that perfect and easy…

"Oh for god's sake, at least move it to the bed."

Kate and Tuck both startled and looked at the door, only to see Frank come in and close it behind himself. Kate narrowed her eyes at him and his shamelessness, and when Tuck tried to pull away, Kate held on to him.

"Perfect timing as always Franklin."

FDR looked at them tangled on the couch like a pair of horny teens and smirked.

"I could leave if you like, com back in about 10 minutes…"

Kate gave him a blank stare and then turned to look at Tuck, whose face was literally three inches from hers, smiling. They hadn't bothered to move at all.

"Why in the world are you friends with him?"

"I can't really remember right now." he murmured and she laughed, passing a hand over her eyes. Tuck smiled lopsidedly and somehow managed to get both of them on their feet, startling a yelp out of her. Kate looked at him in the eyes as her feet touched the carpet and wished she could just steal him away, lock both of them in her room until she was too worn out to move…

Frank's voice brought them to reality for the second time.

"Is that cheesecake I see there?"


End file.
